The recreational vehicle industry in Australia is an integral part of the Australian lifestyle and is also very popular in many other parts of the world, for example, the USA, Europe, and there is even an emerging trend for recreational vehicles in China.
A recreational vehicle is a motor vehicle or trailer equipped with living space and amenities normally found in a home. For example, a recreational vehicle may include a kitchen, bathroom and/or sleeping facilities. Therefore, the term recreational vehicle encompasses motorhomes, campervans, caravans, travel trailers, fifth wheel trailers, toy haulers, popup trailers, slide-in campers and the like.
Recreational vehicles have evolved in their design over the years. In the case of electrical appliances recreational vehicles in Australia are typically wired up with two electrical systems—240V AC (mains electricity) and 12V DC. This is a practical solution in that high current drawing appliances like air conditioners and heaters can use 240V (where it is available) and lower current drawing appliances like modern day televisions operate from 12V DC which is typically utilised in recreational vehicles as this is the voltage that the vehicle (and/or tow vehicle) generally operates on.
It is the expectation from most consumers that modern recreational vehicles will be fitted with a quality audio and visual system—which may include a television (with satellite/cable/Pay TV capability), audio system with radio and CD capability and the like.
The internal speakers in a recreational vehicle are typically fitted in the roof. The roof of a recreational vehicle can become quite crowded as it may include an air conditioner, vent(s), sky-light(s), roof hatch(es), lighting, TV antenna controls etc. Some recreational vehicles (generally the middle to high-end models) are also fitted with speakers on the outside wall of the vehicle (typically the same side as an annex or awning). This allows for the audio system to be utilised when people are outside eating, entertaining etc.—and these external speakers need to be waterproof or at least water resistant.
In order to save space, and/or for aesthetic reasons, it is often desirable to mount light fixtures and speakers within wall or ceiling cavities or recesses. This is typically done by mounting separate light and speaker fixtures. However, these separate mountings require more openings to be cut into a wall or ceiling, often detracting from the aesthetics of the room or environment in which they are mounted, and requiring separate wiring for each. In addition, a critical concern of Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) is that components allow them to manufacture a recreational vehicle quickly and at reduced cost if possible.
Like a house, recreational vehicles are built utilising electrical wiring running through the walls. However, space for wiring is very limited and at a premium in a recreational vehicle, and it is very hard to add to or change the wiring once the recreational vehicle is assembled, This means it is difficult and expensive to add speakers to a recreational vehicle and route speaker wiring back to the audio system.
It is an object of the present invention to substantially overcome or at least ameliorate one or more of the disadvantages of the prior art.